Dual Dialect - Conglomerate EP

 

Released: December 27

Bringing us their second release of the year and their career, Australian duo Dual Dialect’s Conglomerate EP is richly complex in its construction and approach. On one side of the duo, Andrew Foley brings a strange ring variety of synths and sounds squeezed from laptop and some soft synths to include glitches, sweeping pads, and generally weird effects. The other half of this setup comes from Andrew Garton who brings in the more grounded elements to include a saxophone and other woodwinds along with a bit of brass as well. The result of this blend is something that feels like an amalgamation of an IDM influenced DJ jamming along with a small jazz trio. Neither side really dominates the album, but rather both carve out equal portions of the sound skillfully. 

One of the best examples of this synergistic effect can be heard on “Conglomerate II - Algorithm Rituals.” There’s bloops, bleeps, glitchy drums and all other manner of synthetic amalgams that carry on in a slightly raucous manner while the saxophone solos wildly over the beautiful mess. It feels surprisingly organic as well, never feeling like any part of it is stuffed in as just filler and everything has a well-carved out space for it. There’s a similar aesthetic on “Conglomerate III - Meme-leak Mosiac” with a much more relaxed pace and more sparse soundscape. Plus there’s the interesting choice of substituting that wild solos of a saxophone with airy melodies of a softly played flute. Not something that was on the radar during the initial listen-through but the results are downright beautiful. 

The incredibly smooth blending of synthetic and natural tones is what really makes this album work so well. Each individual part could stand on its own, but the combination of the two is absolutely beautiful and makes for a rich and innovative listening experience.